I Never
by meteoradreams
Summary: This is my post Dragonball GT fanfiction with the main characters Trunks and Pan. It develops quite a bit more slowly than Cherish, but I feel some of my best writing came here, so I hope you guys like it.
1. Before the Storm

I Never

Any man knows his relationship is in trouble when his lady only focuses on the gifts she receives, not the thoughts behind them. For Trunks Briefs, it was the same song and dance yet again. His four month relationship with Kendra McKendree was reaching a pivotal point, and Trunks decided it was time to make her choose: she was either in it for him, or she was in it for the money he made. Trunks hated to do it, for this lady once had a charming, beautiful soul. That combined with her silky brunette locks, her pouty pink lips, and her lovely form once made Trunks think that he finally found his dream girl. Sure, beauty was great, but money apparently did not buy someone who saw him for the man he was on the inside.

"We're still going to the game, right?" Kendra asked, making sure the clubhouse seats were where she was going to spend Sunday.

_Already she's asking? _Trunks thought.

"No Kendra, we aren't." Trunks replied in a tone that told Kendra the jig might be up.

"What? Why?" Kendra pleaded. _But those are clubhouse seats! I worked hard to convince him to buy me those! _

"Kendra, I want you to tell me something." Trunks spoke as he brushed his long purple locks of hair away from his eyes. "If I made ten thousand bucks a year doing janitorial work, would you still date me then?"

_If that was the case, maybe a one night stand. _"Of course I would!" Kendra lied. _But you make much more than that. _

Trunks took her answer with a grain of salt, but he supposed her answer was good enough, for now. She would have to prove it in time, however. It took only a second for Kendra to squander that time. She was too fixated with the perks of dating the CEO of Capsule Corp. to get the message.

"So, why aren't we going to go to the game? Did something come up?"

_Money on the brain, just like the rest of them. _

"Excuse me, miss?" Trunks waved down a nearby young waitress. "Check please."

"What?" Kendra screamed. "I'm not finished with my steak!"

"Finish it then. I'm out of here."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm done Kendra! I'm through!"

"Fine, you couldn't please me anyways."

"What? Please you? I spoiled you! You have to be kidding me! You've been using me too long!"

"Fine, whatever."

"Find a cab home." Trunks fumed as he signed the check paying for their meals. He walked out of the upscale restaurant and into the cold, wintry air, which was becoming thick with a heavy, fluffy snowfall. Trunks grumbled as he walked to his car, a black, classic muscle car, now covered with a delicate layer of snow. The roads still seemed passable, however, and so Trunks reached into the glove compartment for the ice scraper/duster and dusted the snow off the windshield.

Trunks climbed into the car and raced out of the parking lot, anxious to leave the jaded memories of another failed relationship in the dust, or more accurately called, a snow-tail. Pedaling through the gears, Trunks raced for the other end of town, the V-8 engine releasing its deep, throaty roar, until he arrived at a new pub in town called the Southern Belle. The snow was falling even heavier at this point, but Trunks decided it was too early in the night to return home, so inside he went.

The Southern Belle was surprisingly modern, newly refurbished and decorated in all things southern and country. Some of these decorations Trunks didn't agree with, but oh well, it was not his place and so it was not up for him to tell the owner how to decorate it. If he really thought it a pain in the ass, he could choose to leave and not come back, but Trunks decided to give the place a chance. Right now, however, more pressing matters beckoned. He walked up to the bar and took a seat on a stool right next to the antique cash register, and turned his eyes to the television, which had the Monday night football game on the screen. The home team was getting crushed forty-eight to nothing, and only in the second quarter! Trunks chuckled as he drew a comparison of the game to a time a few years back when a hapless thug thought Trunks was prime mugging material. However, the thug wound up with more injuries in places he didn't even know he had, and had never hoped to inflict upon his victim. The barmaid, a tall, lanky, middle-aged blonde walked over after washing a pitcher to serve her new customer. "May I get you something?" She asked.

"Yes please." Trunks thought for a moment what he would like, but his mind kept returning to the failed relationship he had hoped to bury by this time. "Get me a tall glass of your recommendation."

"Dark amber alright for you?"

"Sounds fine to me."

"Coming right up then."

Trunks removed his glasses and wiped the lenses with a damp towelette. He folded them in and placed them to the side when the barmaid returned with a cold pitcher of beer. She poured it into a tall frosty pint and handed it to him. Trunks thanked her for the drink and took a long pull off the top. Not bad, he thought, it definitely had a strong taste which suited him. He made a note to order this more often.

"So, what has you down tonight?" The barmaid asked, striking up a conversation.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Sandy."

"I'm Trunks."

"Interesting name, nice to meet you. Now, you look like you've been through the ringer. What's on your mind?"

"How did you know?"

"Kid, I've been doing this for twenty years. After a while you learn how to read people's faces."

"Ah, well, I just dumped a girl about fifteen minutes ago." Trunks thought for a moment, wondering how much he should open up. "Well, she was more interested in what I could buy her rather than what I could give her myself."

"I see, so she was after your money."

"Yeah, that's it. The thing about it though was when we first started dating, she was the loveliest girl, in fact she was embarrassed at first I'd pay for the meal when she wanted to get food from the local fast food joint."

"But she saw what you had to offer, and she liked the idea of rolling in it. Am I right?"

"You're dead on. I'm telling you, wealth has been a curse on my love life." Trunks said before taking another drink.

"Kid, let me tell you something. Money is like a narcotic, especially when it comes to other women. A lot of them will swear money doesn't mean a thing, and a few might even believe it at first. But once they get that first whiff of it, they start to like it. And it isn't enough for them. They need more, and more, and more, until eventually she owns half your estate and then you're reading in the newspaper she's just newly married to the decrepit ninety-five year old billionaire who already has both feet in the grave. Now, do you see why men turn gay these days?"

Trunks nearly performed a spit-take. He managed to down the remainder of his beer, and then chuckled loudly. "Yes! Because men aren't as likely to be concerned about their own needs!"

Sandy motioned to fill Trunks's glass with another pint of beer but he waved her off. "No thanks, it's snowing outside and I don't need any more than this."

"Good idea, kid. Driving in the snow can be rough. How about I turn it to the weather, I'm sure it's more entertaining than this massacre they call a football game."

"Suits me."

"Okay, here we go." Sandy flipped the channel using the remote.

"Woohoo, would you look at that?" Trunks replied. He had long since learned to read Doppler radar, and depending upon one's point of view, the radar read something very exciting, especially to kids, or something very horrible, especially to those who worked for a living.

"A cold air mass has settled into the area ahead of a cutoff low pressure system. Since it is cut off from the jet stream, it has stalled out over the area, and it won't move for a while. What this means folks is that we are in for some big-time snow amounts. I can confidently predict two to three feet of snow, and we very well could end up with more before this system moves out of here. It all depends on when it moves out. So stay tuned here folks, once the roads get bad you might be stuck for a while. If you're traveling, you might want to make some contingency plans."

"Well, there goes my whole week." Sandy grumbled.

"I won't mind it so much at all, really. Looks like I'll be stuck in bed." Trunks replied. He noticed patrons were few and far between at this point and decided it would be best to return home before traffic snarled everything up. He paid his tab and left, feeling a bit better now that he had a hurt out of his system.

-------------

"I wonder how she's doing out there."

"Oh Gohan, you shouldn't worry so much!" Videl replied.

"I know, it's just…"

"She's daddy's little girl, right?" Videl finished for him.

"It's not that," Gohan refused to admit.

"Yeah, what is it then?" Videl replied. Gohan provided no immediate answer so she took the reins. "Gohan, she's eighteen years old now. It's her time now to be an adult, okay?"

"That's precisely the thing though! She's eighteen, and doesn't have the experiences she should have."

"That's why it's her time, Gohan! She needs to learn those lessons on her own, just like everyone's child does. You can't shelter her from every little thing; protect her from every little worry. It just isn't fair to her!"

"I'm just worried she'll get used though." Gohan shot back, trying to take back initiative. "Used and hurt. I don't want that to happen to her!"

"Gohan, her father and grandfather both have saved the world many times. And she has the same pedigree you have. She's knocked around a few nasties herself back in the day, and on top of that she never got a grade on her final report card below an A. I'd say brains and brawn are a pretty good combination."

"Yeah." Gohan grumbled.

"Gohan, your dad walked his own path. You've made yours. Now let Pan walk her own path."

"You're right."

-------------------

Pan Son had barely made it into town the day before. She also hadn't fully unpacked yet into her one bedroom apartment, primarily because she used today to acquaint herself with the city, an effort hampered by the snowstorm moving in. She made her way back to the outskirts of town however before the roads got too far out of shape, and so Pan parked her black sedan in the lot and returned to the warmth of her home, a home she was still pretty unfamiliar with. Pan Son would become the second generation to go to college in a few weeks, and this would be her place to live, where everything would happen. Pan decided tonight would be a good night to curl up underneath a blanket and read a book -Pan preferred spy thrillers- and perhaps catch the game on television. Scratch that, she decided, when she saw the score was an astounding sixty-two to nothing in the third quarter. Someone was getting an old fashioned ass kicking, reminiscent of the ones she handed out in her childhood. Her thoughts eventually drifted however to the prospect of getting a job. She had one interview to do. Perhaps she'd get a job tomorrow. Perhaps.

----------------

Trunks managed to squeeze in behind a snowplow as he made his way out of town and then turned off to a dirt road. Trunks raced up the hill and to his home, which was typical of the normal four-person family, a new brick house, but he was the only occupant in it. As Trunks walked up to the door, he looked over at his garage, which contained multiple more modes of transportation. He grumbled and walked into his house, then made his way down to the basement, his private place to vent out frustration. He hoped his equipment could take what he had to dish out tonight, because he hadn't tested the punching bags out at super saiyajin two.


	2. Buried

**I Never: Chapter 2**

Pan liked staying up relatively late in the evening, so she had to curse out loud when her cell phone rang at three o'clock in the morning. She fell asleep not an hour before after reading several chapters out of her novel, and she planned originally to wake up at noon at the earliest. Pan stirred and reached for her phone on her bedside table and then answered it.

"Hello?" Pan cursed/yawned.

"Hey there Pan. This is Stacy from the Hot Todd and Stacy show on Hot 109.9, you applied here a few days ago. Well, I'm calling you to ask you to come in today, if you want the job, and see how you can do!"

"Oh yeah, of course." Why this time of morning though?

"I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No, no." Pan lied.

"Okay, good. If you want to be on the morning show here you have to get up a bit early."

"Yeah." Pan realized. If she wanted her dream job, she was going to have to make some changes.

"So, if you want the job, you'll be here at five this morning, and we'll see how well you'll stack up against the rest of the applicants. Do you still want it?"

"Of course I do!"

"Good, we'll see you then this morning."

"Alright, I'll be there." Pan clicked off the phone. "Dammit." Pan groused. _But it's my dream job! Sleep can come later._

_-----------------_

Trunks had his own troubles when it came to sleep. While being tired usually made people sleep, peace of mind, or a lack thereof, could make the weariest of individuals toss and turn. Trunks sat up in bed and turned on his fifty-inch high definition television and flicked to the sports channel, where it was airing its third repeat of the recap of Monday night's game. The final score was sixty-nine to seven, with the home team's lone score coming with three minutes to go in the game. The home team's star wide receiver made a cornerback miss and dashed in for the touchdown, and upon reaching the endzone, he celebrated by pulling a pen out of his sock and a piece of paper, a check in fact, and signed the check in the endorsement slot against the goalpost. That generated a fury of excitement, which was not surprising considering the past antics of the particular player, but still, the media ate it up because it was outrageous for him to celebrate in such a way, especially with his team being embarrassed all night long. _Oh well. _

Trunks flipped off the television and walked over to his new computer, the same model which Capsule Corp. began releasing to the general public just a week ago. He saw two of his messaging buddies were online, his mother Bulma, and his friend slash fellow employee, Kenji. Bulma rang up first on the messenger.

"Hi son! How are you? Aren't you up early?"

"I'm alright, yeah, I guess I am up early, lol." Trunks typed in reply.

"What time is it over there? I hear you guys are in for a big snowstorm."

"It's 4 AM, and yes, we're expecting 2-3 feet."

"Ouch! How are things with Kendra? Did you patch things up?"

"No mom, we broke up."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay mom, really."

"You know Pan's over there, she's going to college."

"Oh really? Wow, I haven't talked to her in ages! Perhaps I should find her sometime and see what's new on her end. She's graduated now?"

"Yep, kinda hard…"

"Yo T to the runks! Wassup?" Kenji's window popped up above Bulma's.

"Hey man." Trunks typed in reply.

"…to believe, isn't it? Pan actually made valedictorian, and she was the first one in ten years at Orange Star High to not mention Abercrombie and Hollister in her valedictorian address. That pissed a lot of the preppies off."

"Wassup?" Trunks read from Kenji's window. "Hello, are you there?"

"Yes, I'm here." Trunks typed in his chat window.

"Wow, is that so?" Trunks typed into his mother's chat window.

"Look at who her father is." Bulma replied.

"Good point."

"Why are you ignoring me?" Trunks read from Kenji's window.

"I'm not," Trunks replied. "I'm just talking to my mother at the same time."

"Well son, get some rest! I'm busy right now. Later!"

"Later mom!" Trunks sent before closing her chat window.

"I thought we were friends." Trunks read from Kenji.

"Dude, you can't be serious!" What the fuck was Kenji smoking?

"Well, how'd it go with Kendra last night?"

"We broke up."

"Dude, that sucks."

"Tell me about it."

"I have another lady you might be interested in!"

"Ken, you aren't exactly batting a thousand when you pick my dates for me."

"Come on Trunks! You'll like this one! She's a real looker and very well mannered!"

"Whatever."

"Dude, just give her a chance! I'll set you two up once this storm moves out."

Trunks logged off without saying goodbye. A fat lot of good that did.

---------------------

_Come as you are. _That was what Stacy told Pan when she asked what to wear on the job. _Interesting. They probably wouldn't mind black cargoes with a white pullover, but what would they think about a tail? That wasn't something an average human saw everyday, but I'm not about to have it bunched in to the point of excruciating pain, or worse, have it hacked off. No. I made a promise to my grandfather when I was five years old. I promised him that I would be the best warrior I could be. And if the need arises, having my tail means Bulma could give me a small shot in the arm with that brute ray she's rebuilding. Of course, I'd rather reach that certain milestone by my own power of will, but without the dragonballs, there's no more do-overs. Once someone dies, they die for good. Maybe that's why the gang got so complacent after a while. They always had the RELATIVE safety of the dragonballs. Not anymore. Yes, the tail's going to stay, whether they like it or not. _

Four-thirty in the morning. Time for the interview. Pan bundled up in a thick black coat, which completed her generally dark outfit --Pan didn't consider herself goth, but she did have an affinity for black clothing and banging good rock and roll-- and walked out the door to see a fully wintry scene. She wasn't sure if her car could handle the mess on the roads, but she found her answer when she looked across the street. Her new neighbors in a big white sedan spun out of the parking lot and into the ditch. Pan rushed over to them, an elderly couple to see if they were alright. They were fine, but the car was stuck in the ditch. Pan looked underneath the car to survey the drivetrain of the vehicle, a rear wheel drive, the worst setup to have in a wintry mess.

"Need help?" Pan asked politely, coming across as opposite the person the elderly male driver expected.

"Yes please! I didn't think we'd wind up in the ditch this early, dear." The old man breathed.

"Alright, I'll dig you out. Just hit the gas when I tell you to."

"Thank you very much child." The elderly lady replied.

The car was stuck with its rear wheels dug in, almost sunk into the ground, but its fronts were still out in the street. Pan positioned herself behind the rear bumper and pushed down on it, adding weight and hopefully traction to the rear drive wheels. Her feet slipped into the ditch and it was hard for her to get a good footing, but she instructed the man to hit the gas, but it did no good. She determined the slick ground gave her less hold than being in the air, so she levitated off the ground, being careful to not allow the couple see what she was doing, and instructed once again to hit the gas. Pan gave it all she got and successfully pushed them out onto the road without anyone noticing what took place.

"God bless you child!" The elderly male breathed after climbing out of the car.

"You're welcome sir. Glad I could help you! Maybe you should stay home?"

"I believe we shall, young lady. What's your name?"

"It's Pan."

"Thank you very much, Pan. You know, I could have sworn you had darker eyebrows."

"Oh." _Shit. _"Really?"

"Perhaps you were seeing things." His wife countered, saving the day.

"You're right. Thank you very much Pan, and have a good day!"

"You too!"

Pan was wondering why she felt so high-strung. The tail told the tale. It glowed brightly golden, the only obvious indication that Pan was in super-saiyajin form. Her hair was thankfully tied back in a ponytail within her hoodie, so no one saw that change. Pan took a breath and relaxed herself down to normal, then walked back to her apartment. Driving to the radio station was out of the question. That left one more option: instant transmission, one of the last tricks Pan learned from her grandfather. Two fingers on her forehead, and presto! Pan was in the alley beside the radio station. She then walked into the building where she was greeted by Stacy.

"Why hello Pan, it looks like you might be the only applicant here today!"

"Really?"

"Yep, it looks like the storm's driven everybody off. It's too bad. So we'll see how you do today."

"Oh wow, really?" _Damn, the only reason I'm here is because I cheated. _

"Yep, we're on in fifteen minutes. Hold up, what's with that tail?" Stacy asked, dumbfounded, and pointing directly to it as it flicked around.

"The tail? Oh, I thought it would be somewhat unique, something different. A personality thing, ya know?" Pan dodged.

"Different ain't the word for it, I'm telling you. But no matter, you're here and so, let's get you hooked up!"

----------------

Trunks tossed and turned, still unable to catch sleep. He put on his slippers and walked out to the front porch. The bottom two steps to the porch disappeared completely, and it didn't look good for the third step. _Nope, no one would show up for work today. _


End file.
